Nettles

pamela Image
03/18/2012 - 05:26

While picking wild asparagus here in Sardinia yesterday I came across a very large patch of vigorous dark 'nettles' in and around an old ruined building. However they appear to have no stinging hairs on the leaves so I wondered - are these nettles or something else? Could I use them for cooking? Don't want to poison us... Anybody know? I will ask local people as well but they tend to be conservative in their foodstuffs and may not use nettles traditionally, although they do use wild finocchio, asparagi, bietole.

Comment

Leave them alone, proper nettles are stingers but if you are very poor can provide vit c , iron etc early in the year. These sound like dead nettles to me not the same thing!

Deadnettle family are edible if you use just the tops and leaves of young plants and are good in Salads and can be cooked (stirfried) although there is not a great deal of flavour in them more the colour of the flowers looks good in a salad as you have the red,yellow or purple varieties.